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What are Cyanbacteria ?

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, can grow in any type of water and are photosynthetic (use sunlight to create food and support life). Cyanobacteria live in terrestrial, fresh, brackish, or marine water. They usually are unsightly and some of them characterized by bad smelly, but sometimes can form visible colonies, called an algal bloom. Cyanobacteria have been found among the oldest fossils on earth and are one of the largest groups of bacteria. Cyanobacteria have been linked to human and animal illnesses around the world. Credit: CDC

How cyanobacteria algal blooms looks like?

Some cyanobacterial blooms can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of fresh water lakes and ponds. The blooms can be blue, bright green, brown, or red and may look like paint floating on the water. Some blooms may not affect the appearance of the water. As algae in a cyanobacterial bloom die, the water may smell bad. Read more...

Credit: KDHE Youtube Channel ,2012

How can blue-green algae blooms be managed?

Comprehensive remote sensing monitoring programs and emergency plans provided by water authorities and local councils can provide indications about bloom's occurrence locations and thus these programs could help the hydrologists and water scientists to predict these occurrences in early stages.

According to Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (2012), "The most effective method of preventing blue-green algal blooms is to reduce the nutrient load entering waterways through actions such as planting or maintaining riparian vegetation, conserving soil, and implementing appropriate treatment and disposal of stormwater, agricultural, industrial and sewage effluent". To read more...

 

 

Credit: Sonia Joseph Joshi, Outreach Coordinator at Michigan Sea Grant

Creation and effects of algal bloom: 

Algal blooms most frequently occur in nutrient-rich waters and particularly during hot, calm weather. High concentrations of nutrients from sewage systems, agricultural/urban runoff, or from coastal upwelling are contributing in creating algal blooms in many estuaries and coastal waters. If the above-mentioned conditions were presnted in water bodies, Algal blooms will be created and thus it will induce eutrophic conditions, deplete oxygen levels needed by organic life, limit aquatic plant growth by reducing water transparency, and produce toxins that can harm fish, benthic animals, and humans. cyanobacteria algae can also reduce dissolved oxygen levels in the water column which can severely degraded aquatic ecosystems and lead to the death of aquatic organisms as well as a decline in biodiversity. To read more...

What can be done to reduce the frequency and intensity of blue-green algae blooms?

In order to reduce the frequency and intensity of blue-green algae blooms, we should decline the amount of nutrients in water bodies such as coastal ocean areas, lakes and ponds. Unfortunately, this precaution may take a long time and a lot of community involvement to effectively change the nutrient concentrations in a water bodies. Moreover, due to the large amounts of nutrients in the sediment at the bottom of water bodies that may continue to serve as food for the blue-green algae. However, The department of natural resources at Wisconsin encourages citizens to be aware about some precautions contribute in reduce nutrient concentrations as the following: 

  • Use lawn fertilizers only where truly needed.

  • Prevent yard debris (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, etc.) from washing into storm drains.

  • Support local ordinances that require silt curtains for residential and commercial construction sites.

  • Plant and maintain vegetative buffer strips along shorelines of lakes, ponds and streams. 

To know more about  steps help reduce the problems are contributing in creating blue-green algae, watch the right side video.

Anthropogenic and Climate Change Causes of CyanoHaBs  (taken fromPaerl&Paul, 2012). Credit: Helen Barratt

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